PST to improve productivity, Business sector lauds Phl standard time law

CEBU, Philippines - Local business leaders expressed support and optimism towards the newly-signed law setting the Philippine standard time and promoting punctuality among Filipinos.

In earlier reports, President Benigno Aquino III recently signed Republic Act 10535, ordering government offices and agencies to synchronize all their timepieces to follow a standard time which will be determined by the state weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

Robert Go, director of the Philippine Retailers Association – Cebu Chapter and owner of the Prince Warehouse retail chain, considered the Philippine standard time as a good wake-up call for all Filipinos.

He added that the laidback approach that Filipinos used to practice had wasted money and productivity slide compared to neighbouring countries.

“During meetings, many Filipinos are always late and cannot start on time hence end up late also. Many government meetings start an hour late or even more. Those who are on time will dislike attending the meetings due to waste of time,” he added.

He said that the competence of the Philippine products in the global market could be attributed to the Filipino time.

“The rubber time as of many Filipinos is a bad habit and a waste of time. Our mañana habit makes our productivity and output lower with the same number of hours than other countries,” he told The FREEMAN.

He cited Japan as a good example that is worthy of emulation by Filipinos to be productive.

He expressed hope that the government will observe strict implementation with the newly-signed law since the private sector on their part, always wants to be on time for improved efficiency and enhanced productivity that could cut unnecessary delay.

He noted that this also requires a mentality effort to arrive early by allotting allowance of extra time in case of traffic, emergency and any unforeseen event along the way.

“When everything you do is on time, you are very efficient and everything will follow. It will not be hard for Filipinos to be on time if it is strictly implemented,” he said.

Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Philip Tan emphasized the importance on the respect of time rather than the unified reference time.

He added that the biggest challenge remains on the Filipinos’ attitude to observe punctuality at all times.

He said that it is time to change the negative impression of other nationalities to the mentality of Filipinos being late so as to attract more foreign investors to the country.

“What we use to do is to believe that it is better late than never. Being on time is not that difficult. We should remember that it is not proper to waste other people’s time so we have to be on time,” Tan stated.

Filipino Cebuano Business Club Inc. president Rey Calooy said that entrepreneurs have recognized the value of time ever since so they are very time-conscious in doing business and meeting deadlines.

“We are very time observant because we know time is everything. It’s time that makes money,” he added.

He then expressed support to the law as a synchronized time observance paves the way to enhance the productivity of Filipinos, thus boosting the economy further.

The law was authored by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago who believed that Filipinos have been popularly known for their tardiness.

Santiago said that a single time reference could eliminate the “inefficiencies brought about by different interpretations of and observance of time, particularly among government offices.” /JOB (FREEMAN)